Robaina's

Thursday, 3 November 2016

I live in Toronto, Canada and here in my country as I'm sure it's the same in other similarly wealthy and organized countries, our bus stops are uniform and immaculate. We have people paid for by the city that go around and maintain them, wash the glass, change the advertising, sweep and clean. Most of our bus stops (not all) are covered and somewhat enclosed from the elements. When I began to travel to Cuba I was always fascinated by it's bus stops, a curious mishmash of metal and concrete with one hardly ever being the same as another. Today they've become commonplace when I scan the streets while going from one place to another but I often think, what's the reason for their style of construction and how often do buses actually stop there. At first I laughed to myself thinking that the reason for them being built so firmly (concrete and metal) was so Cubans wouldn't steal the parts to use for the construction of additions to their own properties. However, I owe a small apology for having those thoughts. Although I still believe that may be part of the reason, after the last hurricane that hit Cuba this past month, another reason for their sturdiness could also be so that the high winds don't take take them away. As far as when the bus actually stops there, only Cubans know the answer to that, and just barely. No signs are posted by the stops giving you the bus schedule and if you ask Cubans they'll tell you it's never on time and when it finally arrives it's always packed. I'm glad that the only bus I take in Cuba is the Via Azul from one city to another and for the most part they're usually on time and air-conditioned, but you pay for that, public transportation is free or close to it in Cuba. Below are pictures of Bus Stops taken from different parts of the country.